It has been quite common invention in the art of angling to provide shields or covers for fishing hooks so that entanglement with and snagging on weeds (or more solid objects, such as subsurface logs) may be avoided. Intuitively, such a shielded fish hook (weedless hook) has as its purpose merely the avoidance of weeds or snags and should therefore be frangible or collapsible when struck by a fish. An invention embodying these fundamental concepts is one issued to Hershberger, U.S. Pat. No. 4,217,721, entitled WEEDLESS FISH HOOK. Essentially, Hershberger has provided an attachment to conventional single, double, or treble hooks which is comprised of a thin, plastic, bulbous-shaped element which fits over the hook shank, thus shielding the hook barbs.
Similar to the above, is the shield geometry suggested by Tremblay in his U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,128. Tremblay however, recognizing the need to overcome the unnatural appearance of a shielded hook, whether it contained bait, suggested the use of a porous shield that could also be used as a scent carrier.
From my years of experience, as a competition angler and a lure manufacturer, I discerned that, as helpful as the aforementioned inventions were, something more was still needed to overcome the most prevalent problem facing the sport fisherman. It is true that fishing hook and lure snags are onerous; however, in devising a compressible or resilient shield, and even impregnating that shield with fish lure or scent, the fisherman still finds himself confronted with two problems: the lack of weight in the finished apparatus (porous materials generally imply light-weight materials) and instability during retrieval, should some additional weight be added to the scented, weedless lure.
There exists also a third factor in the "unnatural" problems thus encountered; certain fish, notably the sun fish family comprising bluegill, goggle-eye and large-or smallmouthed bass, the perch family such as walleye, (perchpike) or sauger, and the pike family must be enticed or lured using entirely different techniques. For example, large-and smallmouthed bass will strike, depending upon water temperature and breeding season, at either natural or artificial bait or, in most instances, at whatever aggravates them; whereas, walleye generally shun unnatural or aggravating phenomenon and clearly prefer what appears to be, or smells like, their natural feed. It is therefore readily seen that, to engage in broad spectrum fishing, the angler cannot rely upon a weedless or even a weedless, scent-emittiing lure in its pristine form.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a fish hook, of either single, dual or treble arrangement, that can be rapidly adapted to weedless operation.
Another object of this invention is to provide a fish hook possessing means of attachment for other fishing paraphenalia.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide for the aforementioned apparatus (that is, the hook with shield attachment) a means or method of weighting the apparatus while lending to it stability, as it is drawn through the water.
In conjunction with the aforementioned stabilized weighting, it is yet another object of the invention to provide means on the stabilized weight for attaching other apparatus, notably such apparatus as mentioned in the first two objects of the invention for the purpose of greater deception.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a lure of great versatility, being easily mutable for attraction or stimulation of the several classes of game fish.
It is an all-encompassing object of this invention to provide solutions to the aforementioned problems encountered by the competition angler, as well as the leisure time sportsman, that will be both expedient and inexpensive.
The objects and advantages of the instant invention are set forth in part herein, while others will be obvious herefrom, and may be learned by practice with the invention by even those unskilled in the art of angling.